CHAPTER 13

Lance was six months and now walking, plus slightly talking. He couldn't form complex words and sentences, but he could say small things. Telepathy had many advantages in his up bringing. Seras and the General had managed to teach him how to say certain words to indicate certain things. Such as, eat when he was hungry, sleep when he was tired, mess for when he needed changing. Though with that one, they were having progress with him on getting him to tell them sometimes before he messed his diaper which then one of the three would take him to the bathroom and let him do his thing. Others were, play, for when he wanted to play, read for when he wanted a story, hold, for when he wanted to he held, suck for when he wanted something only Integra could provide but was trying to wean him from because he was old enough to eat more solid foods since his teeth were starting to come in even though it was rather early. Look was for when he wanted to just explore and outside meant exactly that. He wanted to go out and do something in the sun. Drink was another, which could be anything from juice, pop, milk or coffee. The coffee was something Integra felt was a bad idea only after finding out that the General had shared while he was drinking some. Whatever it was in that cold coffee that Lance liked, Integra couldn't figure it out at all. She was a tea drinker anyway so obviously the kid got it from his father. He had many different toys, things that the General had taken him to the store and shown him letting him pick out and try, which was an all day trip that even Seras found to be fun. It made her envious to have one of her own, but she was content with waiting since the two really had the rest of time together. Integra was just glad he wasn't into squeaky toys.

Walter normally kept up with the items needed around the place, toiletries, food, office supplies and stuff like that. Sometime he would go out and get them from the stores or Peter would do it with a few soldiers. They sent Pip once, but that was a bad idea because he ended up not getting anything because he went home with a lady he hit it off with in the store. Seeing as most of the personnel were busy on this particular day, including Walter, and Integra needed a few things, which included her gum and more diapers, she called two people she knew would do the jobs needed in town and come home. Walter sometimes went to the book store to grab a few books he liked that he ordered, which Integra didn't mind, it just meant that things didn't get to the mansion as soon as they could be. He had no books in at the moment however and being busy with other agendas of hers.

"I need you two to take this list and grab the said items. I assume you might need more coffee since Walter said it was low. Plus you were almost out of candy." she said hading over the list from across the desk where the two were seated.

"Yeah. I have been eating them rather a lot lately." the General said as he rubbed his head smiling. "I can't help it. Must be making up for lost time."

"Somehow, I think the chocolate intake is for someone else's benefit."

"I have no idea what you are talking about sir." Seras said as innocently as possible.

"Hmm." she said with a small smile. "My Rolls also needs a new car part that finally came into the shop in town. You only need to pick it up as well."

"More diapers?" he asked looking at the list.

"The current ones don't fit, or so he told me. They do seem tight. I think another growth spurt happened."

"He is getting big. Where is he right now anyway?" the General asked not seeing him in the room.

"His room playing with his toys." she said and then pointed at a special intercom on her desk. "I see him and hear him on this small screen. Remember, I had you built it for me."

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I think I was doing work on BG at the time."

"Yes. Concerning the list, I am quite sure that BG will be able to hold everything there. Because you two have learned your vampire abilities so well at hiding items or weapons inside yourself, as it were, it has freed up a lot of space in the car."

"It is literally a load off my back. I'm glad that Alucard taught us that one."

"I find it cool to just pull that sword out of what seems like nowhere." Seras said. "It just means keeping our coats with us though."

"Yes." Integra said. "You also need to stop by the bank. There has been some upset with one of your accounts there. I was called a couple hours ago and told them you would be along sometime today."

"Hmm." he said reaching into his coat and pulling out a cell phone. "I do have missed calls."

"I don't think you can hear or feel it when it is in that void." Seras said. "I know I can't."

"Keep it clipped to your belt or somewhere you can hear it, in case I need to get hold of either of you." Integra said. "Try to avoid getting into trouble."

They both frowned as they stood.

"We haven't had any trouble in a long time or been in any. Have we?" the General asked.

"No. Since Alucard has been doing the few missions that have been coming up ever so often, if you end up coming across a Freak or Immortal, it will be your first battle since your change General. Even though you two have been to town several times and a few other areas around here, you have not been gone much longer than five hours at most. This trip will take at least until night time before you both return, which is why I am telling you to be careful."

"Oh?" he said looking at the list again. "I see. This part for the Rolls was special ordered from a shop over an hour away from here. Why so far?"

"Because they have always had good business with us and never have cheated me, like a few other places have in the past. Plus, I have gotten several of the classier and more collectable cars through them."

"We understand sir." Seras said as they bowed and then left as she dismissed them.

It was nearing noon when they left and headed out. It took the shop owner half an hour to find the part since it was mis-categorized. Once that was done, they went to the other different stores getting the things needed as they were making their way back to the mansion. The bank was going to be second to last since they had to stop at the store and pick up food. Other than a few stares by people as they got out at the bank, both of them wearing their glasses, they ignored the looks and went in.

To the right when you walked in, was the counter that had areas for over a dozen tellers to help people and several desk like set ups in different areas behind the tellers. There was no drive through. At the end of the counter, there was a thick metal door like a cell prison cage. To the left was a set of rooms against the wall, like cubicles but with more privacy, even though they were glass, and some people were inside. On the wall just inside to the left of the entrance, past one of the large pillars, was a few small counters on the wall for people to write checks, withdrawals and such. At the end of the five enclosed rooms against the wall was a set of stairs that were almost in the center. They went to the upper part that turned to the right that went to the second story. Beside the stairs on the first level, was the bathrooms for public and employees.

"Is it just me, or does the air in here seem wrong?" she asked quietly.

"I think it was the looks we got. Some people haven't gotten over the Tower of London thing and BG." he said walking over to a small counter on the wall.

"What are you doing? I thought we came to find out about a problem with an account."

"We are. But I am signing you up so you have access to my accounts if you ever want something and I ain't there. After all this time we've been together, if you wanted something, I just bought it. I may not be there at some point, not dead mind you. You know, say…"

"I understand. I have to admit, I hadn't realized you were paying for everything or Hellsing was. Technically, you are paying for everything now anyway since the Round Table isn't anymore."

"True. All you need to do is sign this and pull out your drivers license."

"Thank god I don't have to have my picture taken again." she said signing. "I'll never change my looks so I just have to swap the picture whenever I have to get a new I.D."

"Good thing Integra can deal with any problems that arise on that subject later if they want to try and take a different picture or something." he said as they walked through the line of metal poles with red ropes to the few tellers that were waiting.

"Walter once explained why the mirrors at Hellsing show me and Alucards reflection, but I forgot what he said." she said scratching her head. "Wish whatever it was that makes them do that could be applied to a camera."

"I could just paint the scene. Which I still need to do of you."

"But you wouldn't be in it."

"How can I help you two today?" the dark haired 30 something lady behind the desk asked rather nervously.

"I…" he began and then glanced around a moment before shrugging and turning back to her. "I got called saying there was something wrong with an account of mine."

"Look around Seras. I don't see any guards and the people standing around seem really nervous about something." he said to her in his mind as he was talking to the lady.

"Name?" she asked taking a few deep breaths as she pushed buttons.

"General Hellsing. I also want to have a this lady, Seras Victoria given a card with access to my account. An unlimited spending one."

Seras glanced around after handing her drivers license over. There was no guards at all, however, there was two suspicious men she looked away from that were hiding near the front doors behind the pillars. They had ski mask on and were holding sub machine guns. Seeing as she couldn't see the upper level over the bank, she didn't know how many more there might have been, but she did smell a few things.

"I smell blood. And gunpowder. The bank is being robbed." she said into his mind. "Someone is dead upstairs."

She told him this as the lady was taking her time to look up the info and doing so saying the computers were having troubled and was sorry for it taking so long.

"Where's Max? He's usually working this day and always at the door when I come in."

"Who?" the lady asked more nervously than before.

"Max, bank security guard? Almost six foot, brown hair, has a mustache…"

"He's…..um…" she began.

They both heard the click of a gun hammer being pulled back from under the counter and Seras noticed out of the corner of her eye that the two men by the pillar had moved. One was watching the door as the other was headed towards them from behind, supposedly out of their line of sight.

"I think he's in the bathroom." she said quickly. "Something he ate at lunch disagreed with him."

"Figures. I told him to stop eating at that new fast food place. They don't cook their food right." he said shaking his head.

"Oh." she said surprised. "God I went there yesterday…"

"Don't go back. It almost done?"

"Um…"

He lowered his glasses and when she saw his eyes, she backed up in fright only to stop and go into a trance. After about three seconds, she collapsed scaring the five other tellers and the other two people down a ways from them who had been standing there looking like they had been banking since the two entered. There was other tellers out on the floor at a few desk behind glass walls that all had their doors open with people in them and they even jumped.

Seras had turned around finding a shotgun pointed at her by some guy wearing all black, which was armored clothes all the way down to the boots. She started raising her hands, but ended up taking a blast to the chest that caught her off guard making her slam into the counter breaking the wood before she sank to the floor. She was about to get up, since the lead pellets didn't do anything and her coat had took a lot of the blast anyway, but he said stay down for a moment.

The guy hiding behind the counter stood up quickly and pointed a short barreled .44 at him as the other guy put the shotgun barrel into his back.

"What did you, oh hell, I don't care what you did to this bitch." the man said as he kept the gun in the General's face as he kicked the woman on the floor in the side. "You picked a wrong day to enter here."

"Actually, you did." he said with a nod of his head making his glasses fall.

"What the fuck?!" the man said in fright as he pulled the trigger.

The General just ducked out of the way pulling the shotgun behind him, with the man, around as the gun fired. The .44 slug hit the guy, who shot Seras, in the chest blowing him off his feet from the close range impact as the General took the shotgun, dropped it and kicked him away at the same time, while also pulling his gun and firing it at the guy behind the counter. His, being a much bigger gun in caliber, blew the man off his feet and over a counter behind him, leaving a blood trail too. Seras quickly grabbed the shotgun and ran forward only to duck and slide as the guy by the door started towards them firing his sub-machine gun. Bullets tore into the tile floor above her head as she kept sliding and fired off several rounds. The blast blew him into the air and through the glass door. She quickly picked up the sub-machine gun as another armored guy came down the stairs firing a couple of 9mm Glocks.

The tellers and all the rest of the innocent people in the back, on the first floor anyway, got down crying out in fear as gun fire erupted. The General had his arm covering his head as the guy kept firing the Glocks at him. She got his attention quickly by firing the sub-machine gun, which did little to the heavy armor. He quickly turned his attention to her only to be blown back and killed by a few rounds from the Heavy Arms guns as his attention was diverted away from the General.

"How many more?" he asked aloud as the two were looking.

Several people said three and a few pointed up the stairs.

"What are they robbing?" Seras asked as she pointed at a door several feet away from the end of the teller counter and very far from the stairs. "The vault is behind that door and down stairs."

"The manager is upstairs doing something with his computer that they are forcing him to do." a man behind the desk said as he got up. "Is Shannon okay?"

"She's asleep. Probably bruised ribs. By now the police are on their way. I suggest everyone leave and wait outside for the authorities." Seras said checking the shotgun.

"We can't leave." a woman on the ground said. "They said if anyone was seen leaving since they are watching from above, everyone else up stairs would die."

"These guys down here are out unconscious. Take their weapons away and tie them up with phone cords if you have to." the General said.

"Who are you two?" a different teller asked.

"Soldiers of her Majesty." they said together.

"Oh, um, someone please finish what I was doing with that lady. In fact, she should be awaking soon and can help. It's very important and I'd rather not come back tomorrow."

"So, what is it they are doing?" she asked as they slowly went up the stairs.

"Being the managers computer, he has access to everything else in the bank with one password and login name, unlike the other computers which only have limited access. Why rob a bank of money literally when you can just take it from accounts wirelessly."

"Oh." she said as they slowly looked around the corner at the top of the stairs.

There was several glass cubicles along with one office at the far end that was behind large foggy glass panels. Two men with sub-machine guns were holding a couple ladies around their necks with the guns pointed at their heads. One man who must have tried to call for help was dead on his desk with the phone still on his head. Several gun shot wounds through a few glass panels and his back.

"Unless you want to see these bitch's brains everywhere, you better come out and toss your guns aside."

"You want to learn something I learned from a trusted friend?" he asked quietly.

"Always."

She tossed the two guns she had picked up as they walked into the room and looked at the two men holding the guns at the women's heads.

"I said drop the guns asshole!" one of the armored men yelled as he pushed the barrel into her head harder making her scream and cry along with the woman a few feet away as the other guy did the same.

Being faster than human, he was able to bring his guns up quickly as she watched and able to fire them fast. The submachine guns, which were only pointed at the victims heads and not near the victims bodies, made it easy for him. A bullet from each gun went through the clip near the trigger, breaking it instantly so it couldn't hold the clip or fire now. The next rounds hit the shoulders of the arm holding the gun making them loose grip as they started to fall back from the first hit that caught them when it went through the guns. The last shot hit them dead in the forehead as they were falling back through the glass panels and had let go of the women who quickly dropped down sobbed hysterically.

"The trick is to hit them right while the gun is not in the way of also hitting the hostage. Even better if they point at you because you can hit them between the eyes and not have to worry about the hostage as much."

"Impressive. Got to remember that. Nicely done too."

The bank manager was at his desk, sweating heavily as a shotgun was pointed at his head while he was doing as he was told to transfer funds to a account while a special high tech device was attached to the back of his computer, by a wire, to reroute and scramble any attempts to trace the stolen money and the accounts. They both looked up at the first gun shot and then he started having trouble concentrating as the gunman, also armored like the rest, told him to hurry up or else his balls would be the first thing to get blow away. When the two men outside were blasted into his office, he dropped to the floor and got out of the way in time as the man blasted the computer where his head was at. He was about to go after the manger or attack the two people he saw when the butt end of a shotgun slammed into his face so hard he fell back and through the second story window. The drop didn't kill him, but he was in serious condition.

The General put his weapons away, hiding them as they went down as the police stormed into the place. They sat on the stairs instead of getting on the ground as ordered. A quick show of his I.D. made the man in charge back off and instantly had the officers go check on their other people and everything else.

"Sir General Hellsing." the man said saluting. "I assume this lady is with you?"

"Yes Captain. We came in not knowing the place was being robbed. One person is dead, not our fault. They were killed before we got here. We took out the others using their own guns and such."

"Define as such if you would Sir General?" the man asked as paramedics and other officers came in.

He pulled one of his guns and saw the man's eyes widen considerably.

"By Royal order, which will happen later today, the Queen will contact your precinct to tell them to keep us out of this. And any news story."

"Understood sir." he said saluting. "We'll keep the rescuers anonymous."

"Good." the General said standing up with Seras. "I would like to have the information about the accounts being accessed at the managers computer sent to me at this email. I think they were trying to steal my money and something tells me that it was for reasons other than greed."

"Yes sir." the man said and then left as he was dismissed.

They left over an hour later after making a statement and getting his account checked and Seras a card made which would come in the mail in about a week. His account was actually fine and had some major charges made to it by someone back in Colorado. They were suspicious charges that he instantly noticed were things that Helena had most likely bought. A quick phone call confirmed it and the bank teller let the charges stay since they were legitimate. Part of the charges were for a few items that were called something else, but were actually part of the Immortal blood he got and now was sending a hundred of the ones he got each month to Helena. She basically stayed on the property, but was immensely enjoying the freedom to walk outside and see the sun, the flowers and things of that nature, other than nature. Reading in sun was a wish she had for a long time and was taking advantage of it. The people working there had no problems with her and she continued to live in the basement area that had been expanded for her, because she just liked living in the seclusion still anyway. Plus she immensely enjoyed being able to swim since it was something she was never able to experience before.

By the end of the week, it was found that these men were hired to steal money from as many accounts as they could, but most from his, which ultimately failed because he happened to be there that day stopping the virus and download that was taking place. The trace ended up somewhere in South America, but as to an exact location, they couldn't pin it down. He had his mass accounts checked in the various banks he had and extra security added when it was found several more attempts similar to this bank attack had taken place during that week and earlier before the one he stopped. All his money was replaced and a lot of it was gotten back before it could be even taken. Integra felt something was up with this information and so did the General. MI-5 was investigating it further to see if it was something more personal against Hellsing because two days after the bank attack that the General and Seras had stopped, a couple Freaks and several ghouls tried to do the same to a bank in Cardiff. Alucard dealt with them by himself seeing as all the people were dead anyway leaving Pip and company to clean up and find out more info. They also stopped the Freaks from stealing more money again. It took the General most of the day to call the various banks he accounts in around the world to inform them about what was happening and to keep a secure watch because he was not currently buying anything, other than certain things already being charges, and if something came up, call him. For the next week, there was no attempts on his accounts nor any similar bank heist heard of, at least in England. In conjunction with MI-5 and some government officials in America, people were sent to South America to check things out.

"There is a mission that has came up, that only you two can deal with." she said to them a few days later.

"Oh really." the General said surprised as he was holding Lance and bouncing him on his knee as Lance was giggling at a few silly faces that Seras did at him. "Something Alucard can't do?"

"Not particularly. And before you ask, it doesn't have to do with the brothel place." she said smiling as Lance laughed and clapped his hands. "He could, but he doesn't have the technical expertise nor the nautical knowledge needed, which I am sure you have General."

"Huh?" the two asked as he stopped bouncing.

"Dad, sis, leave?"

"Nothing to worry about Lance." he said rubbing his head gently. "We'd be back like always."

Whenever the General or Seras, usually both left, he always asked the same thing. On the few times Integra had left, not taking Lance with her, Lance would ask saying, mom leaving instead. And when they would answer, Lance would smile feeling better that they were coming back soon. Integra smiled again as Lance smiled and then started clapping his hands again as the General bounced his knee.

"As you know, vampires loose their powers and basically hate open water, such as lakes, seas and the ocean."

"But that doesn't effect me." the General said in understanding.

"Nor will it effect Miss Victoria when she drinks from you. A few hours ago, I was informed by the MI-5 and 6 that one of our navy cruisers had stopped doing normal activities with the group it was with. They sent personal from another ship to check things out when there was no response of any form. They were killed shortly after boarding. Because the ship contains sensitive information that they British Navy would rather not see at the bottom of the ocean, they are keeping her surrounded, but at a safe distance to avoid being boarded themselves. Currently, it is unknown how many Freaks are onboard, but it is assumed the entire crew and the five people sent over are all ghouls." she said pulling a few photo's out from a folder.

It showed two battleships, two destroyers and a few cruisers plus one submarine in a large circle around one other cruiser that was smoking from the front deck and a few other areas. One of the battleships was also smoking from damage.

"It is assumed that the Freak or one of them used the deck gun to attack the other ships. One of the other naval vessels fired back shortly after it fired on the battleship in the picture. As far as they can tell, the ship is not taking on water. The other areas of damage on the cruiser are from attacks from the other ships to ensure those weapons weren't used as well."

"Even took out the anti-air guns too." the General said looking at the close ups of the damaged gatling guns. "They even blasted the helicopter off the back. Looks like they hit a few other areas, either by accident or on purpose. I doubt communications even work now."

"Yes. When it attempted to take off, they shot it down quickly, figuring that the classified information was possibly taken. Seeing as, from the other pictures, there is still ghouls on the ship, no one has went near it."

"I'm guessing the reason why the ship hasn't moved from that spot is because the engines are also damaged, or is it something else Sir Integra?"

"The engines are intact as far as they can tell. The submarine crew did get close enough to notice the rotors are spinning and in fact the ship is moving forward, just at the slowest speed possible. The heading is towards America, but they don't believe that it was the intention to head there and figures the command crew was killed as they were trying to stop the ship."

"The small fleet was headed that direction to begin with then?"

"No. They original were headed towards Denmark on patrol maneuvers when the ship turned and started off at full speed at the current direction it is going. However, after an hour and the attack.." she said pointing at the picture of the destroyed deck gun. "The ship slowed down to its current speed. We were contacted shortly after the people sent to investigate were killed before everyone's eyes. The story that the other crews have been given is an experimental virus was stolen and smuggled onto that ship, turning everyone into crazed freaks."

"Not the chip Freaks because they don't know we exist you mean?" the General asked.

"Precisely. They have been ordered to keep back and just watch. You two will go on board and kill these Freaks and any other threat in the name of her Majesty. Once you are sure that every threat has been taken care of, you will turn the ship around and bring it back to port to allow our people to investigate further like our other missions. Her Majesty has already informed the people needed about what we are doing so you shouldn't have any problems with the other ships or crew. I'm going to assume you do have some idea of how to turn the ship around?"

"If everything is pretty much functioning, yes. It shouldn't be a problem."

"What about the classified information?" Seras asked. "Do we look to see if it is still there or taken sir? If it is something we come across because it wasn't were it was suppose to be, I mean."

"It is information and some, hardware in crates in the storage. I wasn't able to get much other than that. The information is on several disc in the Captains room in his vault, which only he can open."

"A Freak could rip the door off, unless it was a very large door. But it could also be blown off."

"No. I have been told that this particular safe has certain safety measures. If the door is being forced open, the contents inside are incinerated instantly. Blowing it open will do the same. Unless the Captain was helping these Freaks, the disc and anything else in the safe should be still there. Because you will be checking every area of the ship, I suggest you at least look at the safe, but do not do anything to it. I would hate to get in trouble because either of you caused the contents to be destroyed."

"Understood sir."

"As for the crates, I would say make sure they are still on board. If they are damaged or broken into, leave them alone and continue your search."

"We'd have to open them if they are big crates Sir Integra, to ensure no Freak or ghouls are hiding in them."

"True. Whatever you see, just keep it to yourselves. I don't care if it is a nuclear bomb. It is none of our business."

"Are you sure about that sir?" Seras asked worried.

"I do not think our own navy having a nuke is a problem. If it was an American ship we were dealing with or another countries, then I would have a problem. Being ours, it is in the right hands." she said taking a drink of her tea. "Even though it is a dangerous and terrible weapon. I would trust having Alucard free in front of me than having a nuclear warhead on my doorstep."

"That's saying a lot." the General said.

"True, but I can handle Alucard. I can't do anything to a bomb. Though I am sure Walter's wires could dice it into pieces, it would probably set it off in the process even if it was totally shut off. Back on the subject at hand, the submarine there isn't alone. There is one nearby under the water keeping watch for anything that might be dropped over board or out the bottom. So far, nothing has other than damaged parts, some ghouls who died in the explosions and parts of the helicopter that tried to take off. I am unsure of how long this will take, seeing as this is a unknown combat situation and a first for us. Plus a first for you General. That being the case, I suggest you drink more than one bag or bring several with you. You both will be out over open water and may be there awhile. It's not the biggest of ships, but it has many places the enemy could hide. Plus there was a large crew which surely by now has all been turned into ghouls."

"Is there a chance they were implanted with the Freak chips Sir?"

"That is a possibility Miss Victoria. However, all the pictures have only shown ghouls walking around so far. I must admit, I can't even phantom what sort of plan would involve the theft of one of our naval vessels. If it was terrorist, it would explain it, but a Freak.."

"It must have something to do with that safe and intel. We're not being told everything. There must be something important on that ship that, if Millennium is behind this, went through a lot of trouble to try and get."

"If Millennium is behind this. So far, all investigations into if they are behind the Freaks has turned up nothing. We have little if any intel on them other than they exist. But their whereabouts continue to evade all our investigations."

"I hate Nazi's." the General muttered. "They tried to kill me more than once and capture me for study because of what I was. Several Immortals were captured and managed to get away, but they were studied under extreme torture and other stories I won't even talk about. As far as I know, no Immortal has ever been a Nazi, and if there has been one or is, then they are hiding very well or hiding that part of their history."

"Walter and Alucard were very surprised to hear the name Millennium as well. As was I after they talked about some of the stories and their fights back then." she said sitting back as she turned to look out the window. "Hmm."

"Something outside?" the General asked as he handed Lance to Seras who was wanted to be with her.

"No. I am thinking. I suggest you use the utmost caution, but if this safe is still closed when you find it, use your vampiric powers to look inside. Either of you can do it, I don't care which. I want to know if it is something more than just disc."

"Too bad I can't take BG with me. He could scan the disc and get all the info instantly. Hell, he could scan the ship and tell us everything on it."

"He can drive on the water as you said so yourself."

"Not that far out. He'd run out of fuel before making it back to shore. Which reminds me, how are we getting on board?"

"A helicopter will take you to one of the cruisers, from there, you will take a small boat and get on board. The other boat taken by the few crew that was sent to investigate was sunk when a few ghouls tried to use it to go after another ship. More than likely, you may be sent over in a inflatable raft and then have to sink it after you board."

"Makes sense." he said.

"I won't be able to bring my cannon. And our swords would be too big in the hallways and such." Seras said.

"We can hide them anyway, just in case. We'll have to bring plenty of ammo with our guns."

"We also have our gloves." she said.

"Right."

"You two leave in half an hour. A military vehicle will be here by then. I suggest you get everything you need before hand." she said getting up.

"Yes sir." they said standing.

"May God and her Majesty be with you. Amen."

"Amen." they said bowing their heads.

"Now, we will sit here and do our work and wait for your return." Integra said taking Lance. "I do not expect you back before tonight, so I will be there reading you a bed time story. Is that okay with you?"

Lance shook his head smiling.

"He's going to need a bath too." the General said as they started out.

Integra nodded and finished her tea as Lance spoke.

"Eat."

"You ate an hour ago at breakfast. Aren't you sleepy?"

"Eat."

"Well, I am hungry as well…"

If they had more time, they would have had some fun first. Seeing as they didn't, she only took about four drinks from him, ten seconds at a time since it took fifteen to twenty before his body began taking her teeth away. Feeling energized, and something else she couldn't get rid of, he drank five bags and placed five more in a small cooler with ice and placed it in the darkness in his coat. After cleaning their mouths and him eating something as well, they grabbed their swords and he his guns with lots of clips he stashed into the darkness of his coat. She took a nine mil with several dozen clips and the long range assault rifle she usually used with clips for it as well, stashing the extra clips away like he did. Because they had to keep what they were a secret, beyond the vampire thing, he took his Hellsing patch off and she didn't wear her uniform. She instead wore the outfits that the soldiers usually wore, but her size, no vest and no insignias. He only put on a very black suit even though Integra has wished he wore the same thing Seras did. After saying goodbye, they took off with the driver.

By the afternoon, they had landed and were taking the small inflated raft over. The fires on both ships had long since gone out and the damage was evident. The deck gun had hit the side of the battleship, but not enough to make her sink. As for the cruiser they were getting closer to, it had a lot of damage up top, but nothing on the sides of the hull. The deck gun was totaled. The missile pods were destroyed along with the depth charge launchers and all other weapons on the outer deck. It was a clear and sunny day making it easy to see everything clearly, which included, for them because of their eyes, them seeing some ghouls moving around through a few portals and on the bridge. They approached the back of the ship and got up the ladder quickly as the raft floating away as the General had turned it at the last second and activated the motor making it leave.

"Better than polluting the ocean floor with it. Or killing some fish."

"Good point. Not even a Freak can jump that far. Plus environmentally friendly." she said as it was getting closer to one of the ships behind them. "So, what's first?"

"I think stopping the ship completely would be a good idea." he said as she un-slung her rifle from behind her back.

Several doors on either side of the ship opened and ghouls came out onto the deck towards them.

"Hang on a moment." he said pulling his guns and giving them different twirls.

"They'll be on us in ten seconds." she stated not lowing her rifle.

"One, we need to save ammo and I haven't used them on an actually enemy." he said crossing his arms quickly as he pointed. "Need to break them in."

"You shot those robbers the other day."

"That doesn't count." he muttered.

They came towards the back and started towards them quickly. He fired two rounds, one from each gun. It went through the first guy, seeing as all the ghouls were wearing naval uniforms that offered no protection, and it went through a few others turning them to dust before the bullet kept going and landed somewhere off in the ocean.

"That's the other reason." he said firing again after several more came out in a nice line.

A few more shots and then they stopped coming and some of them turned around going back in.

"Hmm, I was hoping they would keep coming." he said uncrossing his arms. "Had to use six rounds total in each gun. Not bad."

"You're thinking splitting up would be bad."

"You read my mind." he said slipping his glasses on.

"I only have to drink from you to sometimes learn what you've been thinking." she said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a red die.

"High or low?"

"Top." she said with a certain smile.

"Cute." he said dropping it.

"Right." she said as it bounced and rolled a few moments before showing a 2.

"We go left."

The crews on the other ships had been watching and were shocked at what happened. They weren't suppose to see, but the two had little choice in the matter. Ignoring the crews watching, they entered the door on the left side quickly, sure that they would not only stop the Freak or Freaks, but that the Queen and her people would deal with any problems with the other ships and what they saw.

Staying back to back, and keeping a watch on everything above and below them, they walked through the corridors, only talking to each other telepathically, that way they were able to hear any movement. Some ghouls had been seen, but had went through different areas way ahead of them or behind them, which they decided was a bad idea to try and fire at them until it was a sure shot possibility. As they were getting closer to the stairs leading up to deck with the bridge, several ghouls came at them from three directions. Four actually, but since the stairs and continuing corridor were ahead of them, it might as well been three. A bunch came down the stairs while others were coming down the corridor. To their left, was a corridor going more towards the middle of the ship with ghouls coming at them and another group from behind.

Seeing their predicament, it didn't take long to come up with an idea. She quickly knelt down aiming behind them as she took shots at their chest or heads, many times putting a bullet through more than one ghoul. He aimed down the other two firing the best he could at their chest or heads as the groups rushed towards them. She was still firing when he ran out of ammo in both guns.

"Reloading!" he said going for the clips on his belt.

However, they rushed forward faster and one grabbed left his arm making him drop his gun. He lashed out with the other gun smashing the ghouls face in and then let go of the gun as he saw the futility of trying to reload as another ghoul jumped on his back.

Seras ran out of ammo and reached for another clip only to rush forward and jump kick the leading ghoul hard enough he was knocked back into the others with enough force to send them flying back several feet into a pile. They were starting to get up as she reloaded quickly.

The General, using his gloves, punched through several of them, turning them to dust. After kicking another away as she was firing at her group, he reached into his coat and pulled his sword out as several ghouls jumped at him. The walls took the punishment causing power distribution problems along with breaking a few water lines and other fluids as he spun around rapidly swinging various directions quickly. Not even the floor and ceiling survived unscathed.

With them not heading towards her anymore, she turned to find dust settling and several ghouls standing by the stairs. He quickly moved down the left passage as she finished off the others one's he left in her line of sight. Once again, the corridors were damaged as he sliced and diced through several ghouls before they could run, either away or at him. He put the sword away as she was waiting at the stairs with his guns.

"And the clips you dropped as well." she said pulling them from her belt where they had been just stuck into. "I know how you hate to leave them behind like Alucard does."

"It's a waste." he said reloading.

"You do know the clean up crews go in and pick up his clips and try to find what bullets they can. Silver is a precious metal."

Integra was watching Lance sleep in the small stroller near her desk. She was really happy to be a mother and even Walter was happier to see her smiling more than yelling. It had changed her and she knew it, however, it also made her much stronger because she had more than just England and its people to protect, but someone very dear to her now as well. Alucard did express his feelings about her having a child, mostly that he was glad she finally became a parent, but even though he didn't say it, she could tell it bothered him that she had lost not only her virginity, but that it wasn't to him. He had offered to change her into a vampire many times, however, now that was impossible. Which also disappointed him. With most of her paperwork done for the moment, she was content with just watching him sleep as she drank her tea and ate some of the snacks she usually had with it, along with a couple of the chocolate things from the white bag the General had given her. She grabbed the phone quickly as it rang and was thankful that Lance hadn't been awoke by it.

"Sir Integra."

"Walter."

"There is a phone call from the United States for you, shall I transfer?"

"Yes." she said wondering who it could be.

"Sir Integra? This is General Hammond."

"General, how can I help you?" she asked sitting back.

"Actually, we were trying to help you. Major Carter was able to figure out quite a bit about that chip you sent to us. Even Doctor Frasier found it fascinating. Major Carter also found a way to counteract the effects of the Freak chip, shutting it off that is. All the technical data and other info was placed on a disc that we sent to your organization. However, there is a problem that came up recently that I was informed about ten minutes ago."

"Something came up in further test results?"
"If only it was that simple. We should have had better security on the disc and it getting to you safely. We had no idea someone was watching and waiting for that disc. The man sent to take it to you was tortured horribly and then killed by some group called Millennium. They sent us a video a few hours ago showing what they did to him and to tell us they had the disc. Thanking us for helping them with their research." he said sarcastically and with anger. "You should have gotten it earlier this morning, well, your morning time that is, but…."

"Damn." she said gritting her teeth. "Again I am betrayed."

"I can't say for certain if any of our people were behind the leak or not. Major Carter was doing the work by herself and only SG-1 knew about it. She assures me she told no one about it other than her teammates and they say they never talked about it except amongst themselves. We are currently questioning personnel and finding out what we can, but we can't help you in your country. I'm sorry, but you have to explore that yourself."

"I understand General. Thank you for informing me of this. Does she had copies of everything she did?"

"I am sure she does. I will find out and then we can make better arrangements to have the information got to you for sure. I wish you the best of luck and hope that things don't get worse."

"No matter how powerful they make the chip General, they can only make copies which still makes them Freaks. They will never have the true power a vampire has. Thank you again and I hope you find the leak soon."

Once she got off the phone, she started making calls quickly.

The trip to the bridge was uneventful and the door to the bridge was ripped off at some point. Since entering the door from the outside, there was no bodies around, but there was a lot of blood everywhere and a lot of doors ripped off or bent inward. A lot of ammo spent and unspent along with broken and unbroken guns plus other items strewn about in the attack and confusion that happened before they got aboard. They both entered quickly finding one man, wearing a damaged and bloodied Captains uniform. He was looking out the main window at the other ships. Like many of the portals around the ship that they had came across, the bridge windows had also taken damage or were blow out.

"Impressive. I was actually wondering if you two would even make it here at all." the man said with a German accent as he turned to look at them over his shoulder. "Well, correction, I'm not surprised at you my dear. Stopping you would be difficult even if I had the crews of all these fools here under my command as ghouls and had them attack you all at one time. You General however, surprise me."

"Have we met?" he asked keeping his guns on the man as he glanced around with her.

Though the bridge was damaged, it was still functional. At least enough to take her back to port. The communications area looked like someone took a fire axe to it, which seemed to be the case since there was a broken wooden handle on the floor.

"No. Not personally." the man said as he turned to look at them. "But we have a extensive file on you. Something tells me I am not the first to say you have left a large trail showing your long life. People can be stupid even when evidence is in front of them. How you have managed to elude the fact you are the same person from hundreds of years and not be taken in by governments for experimentation is something we have yet to figure out. There are bets amongst our speculations, which we hope to get answers too soon now. Anyway, it is unfortunate I was not there those many years ago when you fought against us. However, had I been around back then, I would not be able to be what I am now."

"Right. Um, you're a Freak. In both ways. Goodbye." he said firing a round.

The man moved his head to the side as the bullet went out the window missing him.

"I see you have new guns General." the man said with a small wave and then ducking aside once again as the other gun fired and missed. "And, as ever, shooting like you always do when you are so certain you have that shot. And in most cases, you do. But not this time."

She went to fire as he flipped the levers to allow him to fire more than one round at a time. The Captain, snapped his fingers and then rushed them both. Her rifle was ripped away from her along with the strap and tossed aside as she was kicked away into the wall by the doorway out. The General never got a chance to fire as her rifle, less than a second after it was pulled from her grasp, was used to knock his guns out of his hand and slam him into the window almost sending him out onto the deck below.

A loud horn was heard from the ship and then the engines started up making the ship move forward to achieve its top speed. The other ships surrounding the cruiser began to move to block her from moving forward, but the Captain pulled a small device from his pocket and pushed the buttons. Several explosions erupted on the other ships taking their engines out along with knocking out their weapon systems as well. Being dead in the water and unable to do anything, the cruiser continued forward passing within several dozen feet of a destroyer as she continued out to sea.

"The way I see it General, is you have a few choices open to you." the Captain said while tossing the device aside as the General was getting off the floor.

Several ghouls came unto the bridge and grabbed Seras holding her tightly. The rest that came were standing by waiting as the Freak Captain made adjustments to the navigational computer.

"Choice one, you behave and wait until we reach our destination. Where you will meet the Major and if you are lucky, will die quickly after he talks with you. Two, you join our cause and help us gain the world as we so rightly deserve, which will also be extended to her. Or three, you continue to fight me and not only will she eventually die, but so will you. However, the Major wishes to speak with you, so I will have to keep from taking you head." he said pulling on one of his damaged gloves.

"How about option four? You die along with the rest of the unfortunate crew you turned into ghouls and this ship and cargo go back to England were it belongs." he said standing up and brushing his coat off.

The Captain laughed darkly as he directed a few of the ghouls to go over and grab him, which they did, holding his arms tightly.

"My dear General. You are a fool to think you can even compare to the power I possess. You are a mere Immortal with the ability to move fast. Though you also wield a very big sword, in a area this confined, it would be useless. Unless you wish to destroy the bridge and make the ship incapable of returning home much less going anywhere."

"Who the hell are you and what is it you want?" Seras shouted as she squirmed.

"You British people do impressive work in background checks and information retrieval, however, with careful planning and time, one can get many things done. Like me getting to where I am today and do so without being found out. We already know about the disc in the safe. I have seen them along with the cargo in the hold. I cannot see what or even if the Major would have any use for it, other than the nuclear warhead, but a different disc we retrieved before it made it to your pathetic organization, which is also in that safe, will come in handy greatly. This SGC, whoever this American group is, managed to learn a great deal about the Freak chips. In particular, how to shut them off, say…." he said rolling his hand a few times.

"Like right now. If we had a device or something that would make it stop functioning."

"Precisely dear General. I am but a simple Captain of this vessel, though having a battleship would have been nice, this works as well into the Major's plan. That disc is a added bonus of miraculous proportions." he said laughing darkly. "You see, I have looked at the files on that disc as well, but I do not understand it enough use the information. However, this information could be turned around to make better Freak chips. Which will help Millennium gain its hold on the world so much sooner."

"Damned Nazi bastards." the General growled as he struggled against the ghouls.

"Give it up dear General. You are nothing compared to our power much less can you stop us." he said walking over and slapping him across the face making the glasses fly off somewhere. "I have much thinking to do on this long trip and even though I would like to get into a sparring match with you, I do not have the time. Now, which choice?"

After getting slapped, rather hard too, he had left his head hung as the man in front kept talking.

"I choose option four. We kill you and these ghouls…."

"You have no help and there is nothing but water all around us." he said with a gesture of his hand. "The young lady here may be a powerful vampire, but she is outnumbered. And with all this water around us, it weakens her powers. Why she even came is strange. There was information we came across that said you two were lovers, which would mean she drinks from you. Immortal blood has significant power, but with everything I have thrown at you along with the sun and water, I am sure it is beginning to take its toll."

"You underestimate me." the General growled as he looked up.

"You…..impossible!" he said stepping back while pointing one hand at his eyes.

Seras's eyes turned darker and she went into a crazed attack tossing all the ghouls away, some of them went out the window landing on the deck or tumbling into the ocean. They went for her, but her quick hands crushed and turned them to dust. The General also tossed his ghouls away as the Captain pulled his Captain's sword from where it was laying on a console nearby.

"It is no matter General." he said rushing forward and taking a swing, which the General almost didn't duck away in time. "You don't have the slightest chance of winning. I have been studying swordsman ship for most of my life."

He tossed another ghoul only to see it sliced into several parts as the sword came for his head again. He rolled over the top of a console and brought his arm up quickly as the Captain jumped over with a quick burst of speed in an attempt to make a quick death strike and or remove his head. The blade shattered on his right arm as he pushed up as the blade came down. He followed through with a left handed uppercut that knocked the mans head right into the ceiling. Several more ghouls came onto the bridge and the two battled it out, tossing them out the windows or punching them through the chest turning them to dust. After several minutes, there was no more ghouls and the Captain had extracted himself from the ceiling and electrical charge that had been running through him.

"Where's Millennium?" the General asked as he grabbed the front of the uniform and bunched it up so tight it start to rip.

When he was laughed at, the General slammed him into the wall several times before asking again. The Captain laughed again and grabbed the General's throat while trying to kick his body away in an attempt to rip his head off. A quickly punch into his face followed by literally crushing the man's nuts, he slammed him into the wall once more denting it in before letting go. He didn't even get a chance to get up as two bullets, one in the head and the other in the chest killed him of his pain and suffering as he turned into dust while a blue flame surrounded him.

"You alright?" he asked pointing his guns around as she grabbed hers.

"Peachy. Thank god those people were already dead or else I would have thought they were trying to cop a feel." she said with a small shudder.

"Keep watch." he said putting his guns away. "I'll see what I can do here."

Being much easier to ensure that the ghouls didn't come back, the ones that had been almost decapitated or so severally beat up and tossed around they didn't do anything but twitch or not move, she pulled a small silver dagger out of her boot and went around stabbing them, turning them to dust.

"Ghouls are gone. Any luck?" she asked after several minutes.

"Computer is locked out. I don't have the command codes to gain manual control. BG could do it if he was here." he said as he kept typing away.

"What do we do then? We are traveling rather fast, but I don't see anything but ocean for miles." she said looking out one window. "And nothing behind us anymore either."

"We'll have to go to the engine room and shut down everything on the ship and then do a full restart. It should purge the system or at least allow us to take back over."

"Like a fail safe on a computer. You know…"

"Something like that. Reset is a better word." he said as they headed out slowly keeping watch.

"Why didn't we call for help?"

"Communications are damaged, possibly destroyed. I won't know until I look at them better. First we stop the ship and then we go about doing everything else."

It took a good hour before he managed to figure out how to get the engines back under manual control and reset the system.

"Um, General….." she said looking out one port as they were headed back towards the bridge.

"Yeah?" he said looking around a corner and seeing no ghouls. "I get the impression we killed everyone already. Been over an hour and so far, no signs of anyone. Hell, we even got the internal communications working again and called out to anyone listening. Sucks external communications are gone."

"You've done a lot of sailing and such right?"

"Yeah. Many times. Fought against pirates, with them a few times too. Even used the Jolly Roger flag a few times to fake out other pirates and take over their ships. Basically, it was mercenary work. What's wrong?"

"Is that bad?"

He looked out the half broken port window to see dark clouds headed towards them, clouds that looked beyond mean and ugly. The waters were already churning and heavily choppy, and they weren't even near the clouds yet.

"Oh smeg. To the bridge, quickly!"

It took them a couple of minutes to get there, having to dodge pipes and run up stairs and over hatch lips.

"What are we doing?" she asked as he started working on the navigational console.

"About how far away is that storm and how long do you think till it hits us?" he asked messing with different things.

"I haven't been on a boat in years much less have any idea about weather and…"

"A guess would be nice." he said as he continued to work.

"Um, maybe a few miles at most, but at our speed, I think five minutes tops. What are you planning or doing?"

"We may be really screwed. I can't tell our heading other than the original course was for South America. Unfortunately, the reset must have done damage to the system or it was already damaged by the bullets and everything else that happened in here. Such as the blood soaking through into the circuitry and all the ash spread about. Turn the ship around and hold the wheel while I see if I can find out where we are." he said looking over several other consoles and maps nearby. "I hate having to use my eyes this way. Sucks energy….."

"Any luck?" she asked holding the wheel tightly as the ship began to bob and weave more than before on the waves as the storm was over taking them in the turn.

"I fried a lot of circuits and such. Blew out several power grids across the ship. Backups are failing. I wouldn't be surprised if this was scrapped as soon as we got her home."

"Where is home?" she asked a little scared as the ship burst through a big wave. "The storm is on us. But we are still turning."

He looked up from a flickering console to see nothing but dark angry clouds outside all around them.

"Dear God in heaven help us….." he muttered. "Can you see where the storm isn't at…"

"You mean the part of the ocean where this storm isn't?" she asked letting go of the wheel and looking out a window. "I doubt see anything but this storm all around us!"

He looked up and turned to see her yelling at him from the broken window. Feeling the fear and sensing it in his mind, she turned as he did and they both made for the wheel. The ship lurched heavily to the right sending them to the floor and sliding them and water against the wall.

"We've got to turn into the waves!" he yelled as she got up before him. "Otherwise we'll be rolled over!"

She used some of her power to rush over and grab the wheel. He got up and grabbed the frame of one of the broken windows and told her to turn quickly. Lightening flashed around them as waves bucked the ship violently as they slowly turned in the churning water. He got to her and grabbed the wheel turning it back quickly before the ship kept turning.

"Hang on to me!"

She grabbed around just above his waist and interlinked her fingers quickly as the ship jerked.

"Do you know what you are doing?!" she yelled over the roar of the waves.

"Basically!"

"What the hell does that mean?!"

"I haven't piloted a ship through a storm like this since back when ships were made out of wood!"

"How do we get out of this?!" she asked with fear in her voice.

"We have to ride it out!"

"Seriously?!"

"Navigation is gone, I don't have a compass on me and the one here is broken! Half the lights are out on the consoles and so much blood on them makes it hard to read!" he said barely hanging on to the wheel as they went over a large waved only to crash down again hard making water spill over the front deck and into the bridge.

"General….I am really scared!"

"I know! As long as you keep hold of me, we should be fine!" he said wishing he could hold her.

Lightening hit the ship a few times and it was only evident because they heard it, smelled it and felt it slightly. Mostly the hearing because something above them outside was wrenched off and fell into the water.

"What was that?!"

"I have no idea!"

Integra had gotten off the phone sometime ago and was currently watching the news that was reporting on the incident with the naval vessels. It basically talked about the fact some problem arose with what was suppose to be a new engine design that had went wrong, which was and wasn't the true as Integra already knew. The small fleet of ships were all damaged rather badly and would have to have complete rebuilds of the engines and several other systems that had also taken damage. However, one ship had no engine problems apparently, but their weapon systems had been severely damaged. Currently the said ship was moving away at its highest speed and was not responding to any calls. It was last tracked on radar and satellite heading for a massive storm in the Atlantic Ocean that was suppose to hit the England coast later that night. The man reporting behind the desk then informed them that the said ship, which had yet to be named, had been lost total contact with as it entered the storm several minutes ago. Search teams and divers would go out later but more than likely tomorrow to see if the ship survived or was somewhere on the bottom of the ocean floor, if they could even find it.

Integra gasped more audibly than she expected and woke Lance. She quickly turned off the news as Walter came in.

"Sir Integra…"

"Did you see it Walter?"

"I did." he said as he walked up.

"Alucard…."

"You called Master." he said fazing into the room through the floor.

Lance laughed and clapped his hands. He always liked watching the trick and thought it was funny when Seras or his father did it.

"Are you…."

"No. I cannot sense them, other than saying that they are alive. I would rescue them if it was possible….."

"Would you be able to if you drank ever last drop of the Immortal blood the General has?"

"I would be able to do that and more if I drank them all. I cannot say however how long it might take. They could be still battling on that ship, which would explain why it has not turned around. Being over water and getting further away from land, it would be a taxing experience and being in such a strong storm, it would make it very difficult on me as well in finding them. Do you wish me to do so anyway?"

"The General just got his latest shipment of blood a few days ago Sir Integra." Walter said. "It will be almost a month before the next one."

"You are sure they are alive?" she asked picking up Lance who was reaching for her and asking to be held.

"I can feel it in my blood." he said with a smile.

"We will wait and see how things turn out then. As much as I wish I could allow you to go after them, this may be a trap to get all three of you away from Hellsing. The SGC managed to find out much about the Freak chips and had sent the data to us on a special disc. However, that person was captured, interrogated and killed before they could make it here. And it happened in this country by the Millennium group. The man was taped as they tortured him and then after waving the disc, said thank you for helping in their research before shutting it off and sending it the SGC. They are sending us a copy of the video as we speak."

"Do we know where the disc is?" Walter asked.

"I made several phone calls and learned that it was given to a man named Captain Prise. The same Captain who is or was in command of the vessel that the General and Miss Victoria are on. I am sure that he was instrumental in the theft of the disc and sabotage of the other naval vessels. There was no experimental engine design being tested, at least not really. That particular ship is carrying classified military hardware along with a nuclear warhead. I am sure this plan was set up by Millennium some time ago. Unfortunately, we fell into their trap. That ship did not take off until shortly after those two got on board. We can only hope and pray that those two have things under some control of their own and that they will make it back safe and sound. Until then, I want our people to remain at full alert. MI-5 will be investigating to see if there is any other leaks or saboteurs inside Parliament and the other agencies. Very few people knew about the SGC and how they were helping us. Hopefully the traitor will be found soon."

"The General is a very capable person Sir Integra. I am sure he knows how to get out of this situation." Walter said.

"We can only pray…."

The storm was pounding away at the ship and several times, waves had crashed over the ship filling open areas with water. By the grace of god alone the bilge pumps were keeping the ship from sinking even though she was taking on water with each wave that crashed over them. All the bridge consoles and lighting had either shorted out or was blown out from all the water that had came in. If it wasn't for the fact he was scared and full of adrenalin and the fact he still had a lot of power left from the blood he drank, he would have been freezing more than he currently was. She was still holding on and at that moment, thankful she was a vampire because she didn't feel the cold water and if it wasn't for her vampire strength, the water would have washed her away from him. He had already pulled three of the handle parts on the wheel off when he was blasted by a few waves that came pounding into the bridge and tried to tear him away from the wheel. Currently he was really keeping a grip and doing everything he could to ensure the boat didn't turn over or get knocked over.

"Are we going to get out of this?!" she yelled through tears of fear.

"I've been in worse!" he shouted and then grabbed hold harder as a wave splashed over the deck again and blasted the inside of the bridge once more.

"Worse than this?!"

"A couple of water tornados were trying to suck us in! We lost our main mast and both anchors! Plus a few other things but made it out alive and still floating!"

"Great! We just need a water tornado to make things better then!" she said sarcastically.

"Move around till you are in front of me! The waves are getting stronger and I'd rather you not be blown off my back or me blown off the wheel and crush you!"

She got in front of him quickly and put her arms around him under his coat and then gripped her hands together hard as a wave of water hit her back and almost knocked him off the wheel again. By sheer will and fortitude alone, plus what they both were calling divine luck, the next several minutes were just waves that kept rolling and slamming the poor vessel, but she refused to sink or go under in any form. If it wasn't for his eyes, he wouldn't be able to ever see anything at all and Seras would have been steering. Lightening was striking the water a lot and rain was pouring down in sheets so thick it would drag down any plane that dared to fly through it. For a moment, both of them thought the worst was finally getting over with as the waves started to die down, but the weather stayed just as bad.

"Oh no."

"What?" she said turning her head just enough to look. "We're dead…."

"Seras…"

She looked up into his red eyes and they kissed for several seconds like it was going to be their last.

"No matter what happens Seras, do not let go." he said moving forward and grabbed the wheel with his arms through it. "I LOVE YOU!"

"I LOVE YOU TOO!"

She felt her back and butt start to hurt from the pressure of the bronze wheel on her, but seeing what she saw, she ignored it and kept hold, wrapping her legs around him the best she could.

The waves had receded slightly only to be replaced with a massive forty to fifty footer that stretched several times longer than the ship. A surfers dream, but a ship pilots worst nightmare. Doing the only thing he could do, he aimed the ships bow dead center into the coming wave. The ship slowly started to rise up at an angle and then he sucked in air while closing her mouth like she did and closed his eyes as well while holding on for dear life, praying all the way. The massive wave lifted the ship a good forty degree angle before slamming down over it, completely putting her under water.